by
Meredith Martin-MoatsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

10:47 AM, Monday, April 29 2013 | 1693 views | 0 | 6 | |

Chuck and Phyllis Campbell are both teachers in the Russellville Public Schools. Chuck teaches AP environmental science and helps students grow a small garden on the high school campus. Phyllis is an elementary teacher with an art background. They’re both proponents of a more sustainable form of living, raising chickens, goats, and a large garden on their property a few miles outside of Russellville.

As part of the McElroy House: Organization for Folklife, Oral History, and Community Action’s ongoing outreach meeting with area growers, we had the chance to visit the Campbell’s place, meet their goats and learn more about their decisions to live closer to the land.

Phyllis was born into a family of eastern Arkansas tenant farmers. Chuck grew up in Maumelle with a backyard garden. Like so many modern homesteaders, raising their own food has been an extended process of trial and error. “My grandmother raised chickens and slaughtered hogs, explains Phyllis, “but then it skipped a generation.”

Over the years they’ve taught themselves, drawing from books, online resources, and the inspiration of a former generation. These days their free-range chickens lay enough eggs for the Campbells to occasionally sale to market; they regularly milk their goats and make their own cheese. As Phyllis talks about the taste of homegrown eggs, she shows us the homemade chicken roost they made from scrap lumber salvaged from their kids’ former tree house. “Basically, we’re living like my grandparents did. We’re reusing things.”

Their goats are friendly and follow us around, checking out Saira’s camera and my recording equipment. The garden near the front of the house is filled with rich soil they’ve been working for years now. They get horse manure from a neighbor; they use the waste from both their chickens and their friends’ rabbits to make a rich fertilizer. Given the growing price of fresh food, their garden is, at least partially, a necessity, they say.

Chuck notes that he’s been inspired by the material he teaches his high school students, including Aldo Leopold’s 1949 landmark book Sand County Almanac, especially the closing essay titled, “The Land Ethic.” This idea, wrote Leopold, is “simply enlarging the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.” “That the land is a community is the basic concept of ecology,” penned Leopold, “but that the land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics.”

When we visited the Campbells it was still chilly outside and we discussed the rhythm of a life spent closer to the land. “With me it was a growing awareness,” explained Phyllis. “You know, waiting for eggs. And I looked at all the work that went into it…it’s not just mindless consuming at a grocery store,” she explained. “Peaches,” added Chuck laughing. “You only get them in the summer and watermelon. And apples in the fall.” It’s learning about these seasonal changes, they say, that makes them grateful. The more they grow, they added, the more they enjoy their decision to live a more sustainable life.

You can see Saira Khan’s photos of the Campbell’s goats, learn more about our ongoing Garden Book Project, and tell us about your garden at the McElroy House webpage at www.mcelroyhouse.wordpress.com. Find links to Aldo Leopold’s books, and much more at www.Boileddownjuice.com Thanks so much for reading!